Post by Korgen in Cell Shocked jam comments

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Trijam teaches you important lessons (at least, that´s what I’ve learned, but I don’t always master it):

Before the coding time, it´s curcial to make a simple GDD with the main mechanic, look for assets (I’m horrible at drawing), list everything I might need, and draw the 2-3 screens. Understand what you want, and identify which parts you can discard if neccesary (time!!).

Programming time:

First, the main mechanic must work well, be addictive and ballanced (more or less; sometimes is very difficult to get it). If you dedicate too much time to other side mechanics, the game will suffer. “Keep it simple and clean”; I said it to me all the time XDD.
Second, visuals. They should be decent, nothing elaborate. A bunch of objects, some background, a couple of effects, and that’s it.
Third, sound and music. One core music, 5-6 sfx, and that’s it.
Last, but not least, menu system and INSTRUCTIONS (ideally within the game).

You know how to make this games too, it´s easy to see ^^! But sometimes we waste a lot of time in details, hehehe

Oh wow thanks so much, this is genuinely gonna be so helpful for future games :D
My plan for this game looked something a little more like this:

First, spend 30 minutes on the music
Second, spend another 30 minutes on the visuals
Third, begin programming the player and tile engine, while adding tons of visual polish
Fourth, panic because there's only half an hour left and the game is barely in a playable state
Finally, make some really basic AI, add some more visual polish, then add really basic you win/game over screens

...I clearly don't have the best time management skills lol
But seriously, thanks so much for this advice - really appreciate it :D