When I first considered joining this jam, I wanted to make a platformer, but only had the setting but not the gameplay itself or the accompanying mechanics. I thought having no gameplay idea might be dangerous so I instead decided to use a genre with which I'll have more clarity. Hope you figure out the gameplay soon!
Viewing post in Shattered - Why Not Me: (ostensibly) a magical girl game
So, at first, I was going to do a pure visual novel. That's easy from a gameplay design point of view, albeit still quite a bit of work. I've kept that, partly, for the narrative sections of the game (although again it probably doesn't strictly fit the definition of a visual novel). But early on in the planning process I starting thinking that creating a protagonist with all these magical powers and then not letting the player really use them feels like a lot of wasted potential. I want some sections where the player can actually use these powers in action and feel totally badass doing it, just like our protagonist does.