[Day 8]
Yesterday, I gave myself the day off because I got home from work, exhausted, covered in price tags and customers' germs, I wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed and watch YouTube videos. So I did. Watched hours of people playing Stardew Valley and ate an entire stack of Ritz crackers. It was great. Still, even if I didn't do any physical development, I didn't take a break from thinking and planning about the game.
As such, when I woke up this afternoon (I ended up sleeping until 1 p.m. 13 hours of sleep never felt so good), the first thing I did was add in the remaining choices/variables I had planned for. Meet the new and improved story map, likely the final version (for real this time).
I'm finally getting these variables to show up in other parts of the story. For instance, if you go to the beach, and let your dog go swimming, the people at the cafe and the library might not be too happy. But that doesn't mean the cafe and library are off-limits if you went to the beach first. You just might have to sit at one of the cafe's tables outside, and the library people won't let you near their music collection (but the books are okay!). I also got some writing done for the park, a little more for the beach, and just a bit for the cafe.
I finally had two people (my sister and her friend) play test my game in person (my other play tester is sadly far away from me, so I can't observe the choices made). It was very nerve-wracking to watch people judge my game in real-time, especially since I knew my sister would not pull any punches. Which she didn't. I asked her opinion and she flat out said, "I have no interest in text-based games since its just a book. So I can't really give an opinion." I tried to press her for more, but she just kind of shrugged and said, "It is what it is" in a tone that very obviously suggested she wasn't comfortable saying what she really wanted to say. Obviously, this isn't really what I wanted to hear, and a little disheartening, but it somehow also makes me feel...better somehow? I think the first time someone criticizes your work is always the worst. After that initial disappointment, you just want to do better. You look past anything that isn't helpful and focus on what is.
And besides, that's what this game jam is all about right? Learning what you can do to better yourself and your skills? Its hard to know what to fix if no one will tell you what's wrong.
I have work again tomorrow, but a shorter shift. I'm hoping to get another good chunk of writing done so I can focus on just fine-tuning the game after that.